Few people in Chatham-Kent are watching the promises being made by provincial political hopefuls more closely than Mayor Darrin Canniff.
Because the two main sources of income for municipalities are property taxes and funding from upper levels of government (provincial and federal), Canniff is looking for commitments from the local candidates that will help ease the burden on local taxpayers.
"Property taxes aren't designed to do what they're being asked to do now, so we need a complete revamp on the funding," said Canniff. "We need more funding for infrastructure and homelessness... when you look at education, continued investment in new schools, when you look at the hospital side of things, we need more doctors."
Canniff further highlighted the need for more investments from the province in local healthcare by noting that one-third of Chatham-Kent residents do not have access to a family doctor right now.
Under Canada's health care system, hospitals and health care are primarily responsibilities of the province, not municipalities.
On a municipal level, though, Chatham-Kent did recently set aside $420,000 that can be used to entice new doctors to the area.
Canniff said municipalities across Ontario communicate their needs to the provincial leaders by advocating through groups like the Ontario Big City Mayors and the Western Ontario Warden's Caucus.
Another one of those advocacy agencies is the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO).
A report from AMO released in January pointed out the crucial need for more investment in affordable housing, noting that, "Ontario is at a tipping point in its homelessness crisis. More than 80,000 Ontarians were known to be homeless in 2024, a number that has grown by more than 25 per cent since 2022. Without significant intervention, homelessness in Ontario could double in the next decade, and reach nearly 300,000 people in an economic downturn."
AMO is also keeping track of commitments that each of the main provincial parties have made publicly on several of the key issues it is tracking including homelessness, reliance on municipal property taxes to fund provincial responsibilities, and investing in infrastructure.